Technical ALQUATI motor in newly purchased Bambino

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Technical ALQUATI motor in newly purchased Bambino

I am afraid that I abandoned the camshaft measuring for the time being as I was more concerned about getting a complete engine back together after all these years and to see what happens when I fire it up. Still a few outstanding little jobs but nearly there so may try it next week :)
 

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It lives and fired up this morning and have run it for about 50 minutes mainly on tickover with the odd throttle blip and got it up to temperature and the thermostat flap open. I tried to post a short video but that seems to be outside of my ability. I was surprised how mellow the exhaust note was, expected something a bit more raspy also by how the engine ticked over smoothly with 795cc , high compression and a lumpy camshaft :)
Also videod the fuel bypass back to my jam jar petrol tank and it is quite easy to see that the return flow back to the tank is way more than that being consumed by the engine.
 
Hi all. Been years since I started this thread. So what has happened in the last few years? I still have my Alquati Bambino and hope to get it up and running soon. I have just purchased a lovely 1968 850 Sport Coupe with the 903cc engine. I take delivery in a couple of weeks. I’m already busy getting bits together as I will be putting in a new brake master and wheel cylinders. Keen to be driving again. I had an 850 Sports Coupe about 25 year ago and loved driving it. Sadly it lost out to an Alfa GTV 105. I sold the Alfa and now back to a coupe.
The Alquati Bambino will have to prove itself to remain in my garage. So back to sorting out fuel flow and perhaps a carb kit and then who knows.
 
Hi all. Been years since I started this thread. So what has happened in the last few years? I still have my Alquati Bambino and hope to get it up and running soon. I have just purchased a lovely 1968 850 Sport Coupe with the 903cc engine. I take delivery in a couple of weeks. I’m already busy getting bits together as I will be putting in a new brake master and wheel cylinders. Keen to be driving again. I had an 850 Sports Coupe about 25 year ago and loved driving it. Sadly it lost out to an Alfa GTV 105. I sold the Alfa and now back to a coupe.
The Alquati Bambino will have to prove itself to remain in my garage. So back to sorting out fuel flow and perhaps a carb kit and then who knows.
Sadly my 850 Sport Coupe lost out to excessive rust but it’s beating heart lived on when I transferred the complete engine and gearbox into the back of an 850T camper van but that’s another story.
Anything that mentions Alquati always gets my attention and I spoke about it earlier in this thread talking about the 795cc engine I restored. Having got the engine running and installed in the back of my 1981 Fiat 126 DeVille I was too ill to risk driving it so the car was sold to a good friend and 126 enthusiast. He ran the car on the road for a while including a 450 mile round trip from the midlands into deepest Wales. He enjoyed the extra power and still reminisces about it even though the engine was still in running in mode still being fitted with a standard but rejetted carb. Since the he reverted back to his restored standard 126 and says how much he misses that extra power. My old car is temporarily laid up but will return.
When building the engine I was surprised to find that it was based on a 594cc crankcase. After having to sell my cars over two years ago I continued dabbling with the 500/126s by building two sporty engines from bare crankcases, I had all the bits and I like doing it as a fair weather pastime. I mentioned earlier that I knew of two other 795cc Alquati engine builds in existence and a rumour of a possible other that has never materialised. Anyway just before Christmas I happened to be in the right place at the right time and the engine I had tried to buy many times over the years, as it had been lying idle, was offered to me so I snapped it up. It is mostly in bits but the signs are that the condition is good. Again the engine is based on a 594cc crankcase.
There had always been speculation about wether the Alquati engine had made use of VW pistons and barrels but looking for evidence in a copy of the original Alquati sales brochure even with my lack of Italian it was easy to see that they produced a special 85mm kit for the 795cc. The camshaft is marked A2 which is also shown as an 40/80.
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Hi bambino55 I’m building a sports tuned 650 at the moment and have the 123plus ignition. The motor is pretty much done and I’m now waiting for the body work to be completed. The 123 system is expensive but is available in Australia. I’m pretty sure the guy shipped it for free. As for how good it is I can’t tell you to hopefully October although I believe it is tuned by Bluetooth. PM me if your after any details.
Something that I have mentioned on a number of occasions. ALL the electronic ignitions, irrespective of their cost, have one major problem when used on the 500/126 engines---heat! In fact, on the side of the 123 distributor unit I believe that there is a label which says that the max temperature that it should be exposed to is 100C. The 'cooling' air coming from the engine and blows over the distributor is often in excess of 100c. Eventually this causes the electronic unit in the distributor housing to wilt---permanently! I put a "air breakwater" inside my thermostat housing, in line with the distributor, to help prevent this problem. Even with the thermostat-flap fully open, the air gap beneath this barrier is only about 1/16th inch. Just to add to the problem with the '123' ignition units,they are no longer made in Holland; a lot of the European parts suppliers (for 500 and 126 parts) have taken this unit out of their catalogue---it does not seem to be anywhere near as reliable as the original units.
 
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